The invention concerns a cleaning agent for textile surfaces, particularly textile floor coverings, which is composed substantially of a powdery, porous carrier material, whereby the carrier material is composed of plasticized urea-formaldehyde-resin foam and enriched with cleaning agent. The prepared, packaged product displays, with regard to the carrier material, a density of 20-60 kg/m.sup.3, as well as a bulk density of 50-150 g/liter, and a grain size of the carrier material of from 0.01 to 12 mm. The tenside-containing water adhering within the carrier material in an amount of max. 80% by weight relative to the weight of the carrier material, is stored completely uniformly in the carrier material. The cleaning agent is provided from the mixture of carrier material with an aqueous solution, which contains 0.01-0.5% by weight of an antistatic agent promoting the ability to withdraw the cleaning composition from the applied surface by suction and 0.01-2% by weight of a volatile alkali, as well as 0.5-5% by weight of a polymer-tenside combination which restrains re-soiling of the applied surface.
Such cleaning agents are known, and serve the purpose of being sprinkled, powder-like, onto the textile surfaces, to clean the textile fibers, and then, with the loosened, withdrawn dirt, of being removed again from the textile surfaces after a drying period.
There is known, e.g., from DE-PS No. 27 32 011, a tenside-containing cleaning agent of the described type, with which the free formaldehyde content adhering within the carrier material is supposed to be bound off i.e. reacted as extensively as possible by means of a volatile alkali. Such a solution has the disadvantage that the formaldehyde-binding mechanism of the following formula: EQU 6CH.sub.2 (OH).sub.2 +4NH.sub.3 =(CH.sub.2).sub.6 N.sub.4 +12H.sub.2 O
(wherein (CH.sub.2).sub.6 N.sub.4 =Urotropin),
runs disadvantageously, in that the water adhering within the cleaning agent disturbs the formation of the urotropin on the right side of the equation, but in the desired pH-value range, a disturbing portion of free formaldehyde remains present.
It is furthermore known to decrease the formaldehyde development from aminoplastic foam materials, by treating the prepared foam material at the surface, with a non-volatile, formaldehyde-binding agent, containing an aqueous mixture of urea, ammonia, ammonium sulfate and a hygroscopic agent.
Herewith it is disadvantageous that the water-attracting or water-holding agent can find no use with regard to a floor-cleaning agent of the type according to the invention, since this lengthens the drying period to a considerable extent and substantially impairs the ability to withdraw by suction.